stuff I did to "go green" this year...and what still needs to be done

High on the list this year was purchasing four .99 recycled, re-usable bags from Winn-Dixie so I could happily stop being asked "Paper or Plastic?" Occasionally I still end up with a few plastic shopping bags, but they do end up being used (mostly for trash liners.) I'm officially down to TWO plastic bag stockpiles.

Purchasing the EVIEEEEIL fluorescent bulbs and replacing most incandescents. After the fluorescent ones die I'm going to try out the LEDshttp://www.besthomeledlighting.com/ . I'm not sure how sensitive the rest of the world is to high-pitch frequency, but both S & I are extreeeemely sensitive to them and can hear the durn fluorescents as soon as they're turned on, hence the evil nature of fluorescents. As a part deux of this effort - I am currently investigating the disposal of the fluorescents (along with some other stuff since we change our own vehicle oil at home) through this site - http://earth911.com/ pretty durn handy.

Also - Hurricane Gus gave me ample opportunities to get out and start a new composting heap. So I'm back to recycling food scraps and such. For the coming year, my goal with waste reduction will include getting back to recycling paper/plastic/glass. Earlier this year they discontinued curb-side recycling in our Parish, so people in our neighborhood seem to have gotten together to do some kind of "recycling carpool", if you will. I'm not sure who's in charge, but I'm putting this on my list, because we really could cut our waste in half if not more through recycling.

Last week we used the last paper towel in our home. I already had dish rags for the counter tops and for drying dishes, but now we have cloth napkins for any and everything. I got a couple of bins, one for the clean rags and one for the dirty rags - it seems to be working smoothly so far and I don't feel bad about buying another disposable paper product.

I guess I wasn't alone in adjusting my driving habits this year? But I did, I started driving slower and not leaving the office at all during lunch. Because we live so far outside of the city, we already consolidate trips as much as possible, so that wasn't too difficult. And in July I was gifted with a sweet little Honda Civic which gets 36mpg...so that has helped considerably.

I suppose it doesn't seem like too much after all... but it's a start.

Sometimes it's nice when the camera catches your best

Fire Three
Originally uploaded by connorhalo

A friend of Gretchen's took this picture at our Halloween "Belementals" show in New Orleans, November first.

And here is the video that went along with it... the back story being that initially my element was going to be "Destructive Wind," because I'm from Louisiana and it seemed appropriate. Well, I fully intended to use my new fan veilz (tm), but then my friend Kryss asked could she borrow my fan veilz, because..yes, you guessed it...that was the very prop she intended to use, but couldn't get a hold of any because they're usually on back-order. At any rate, I asked her what 'aspect'/element/music etc wasn't being portrayed and decided to do a Fire element piece with a veil. Terribly unoriginal of me - it's a hard pattern to break. At any rate, about 4 hours prior to the show while I was packing up to head to New Orleans, I put one veil in the bag...then I put another, and another until I finally stopped and asked myself what I was doing. I only needed one veil. But then the vision in my head was complete with sound and Technicolor, I would use multiple veils which would be thrown into the air to achieve "flame-like effects." Lo and behold, it worked. Not so sure it came across on film as well - but the people in the audience got the message. Oh - did I forget to mention that I called down Pele to accomplish the task? Well, She was there, in force, at least it felt that way.

"Mommy, which one is healthier?"

Monday, while in the checkout line of my grocery store, another shopper pulled up in line behind me with her buggy and I heard her say, "Look, there are some chips down there."

I turned slightly to realize she was talking to her daughter, who looked to be around 7 or 8. The girl said, "where?" I pointed them out to her and she bent over to pick up a bag. There was an assortment.

The little girl reached down to grab some Cheetos and then pulled back and asked "Mommy, which one is healthier?" I'm not sure, but I really do think the question caught the woman off guard, because she said, "well, they have Funyons, you like Funyons." In my head I'm having a mental conversation with the little girl...'walk away,' I say, 'decide you don't want them...you really don't need them.'

Well, the kid actually picks up a couple of the bags, turns them over and starts looking at the nutritional charts on the back. (All I could think about was the story Matilda ,I had just re-watched the movie of less than a week ago.) I jumped for joy inside and said "SCORE!" I mean, if the kid's mom didn't have enough energy to care about reading the nutritional panels, I really have to think it was Divine intervention that allowed the kid to recall having seen her mother (at some point) or another adult do this. Who knows, maybe her teachers are on the ball and guided them to this action during a lesson?

At any rate, I really don't believe that the girl knew what she was looking for or was reading when she compared the nutritional panels, but it was a start. The hope that had not been there when the woman first pulled in behind me, that had drained when she said "you like Funyons," rebounded in spades and I thought...maybe these kids can hear God.